Over the weekend, federal agents deployed by the Trump administration shot and killed Alex Pretti. An ICE officer unloaded ten shots into Alex’s back in the middle of the street while at least four others pinned him down. All of this happened in broad daylight, in front of the whole neighborhood. The video quickly circulated online, and Trump's goons Kristi Noem and Greg Bovino quickly began lying to everyone about what we saw with our own eyes.
Alex’s crime was trying to help a woman who was pushed to the ground by federal agents. This wasn’t an issue of “safety” like Bovino and Noem framed it — it was a public execution. With the murders of Alex Pretti, Renee Nicole Good, Keith Porter, Silvero Villegas-Gonzalez, Jaime Alanís Garcia, and many more, ICE is carrying out its mission exactly as planned: separate families and intimidate people into staying silent about their brutality.
How we react to Alex’s murder will determine the future ahead of us. Our friends in Minneapolis called for a nationwide shutdown on January 30th.
ACT COLLECTIVELY. PLEDGE TO JOIN THE SHUTDOWN THIS FRIDAY!
If we don’t answer their calls and act as a unified collective in response to this cold-blooded murder, ICE will learn very quickly that they can kill whoever they want. Not only will they keep killing people, but they will keep lying about who they kill. They will shape reality. I’m not just writing to you about abstracts — isn’t this exactly what we have witnessed happen in Gaza? The architects of the genocide found out what lies they could get away with and what atrocities they could commit without consequence. They called Palestinian healthcare workers terrorists. Is that not exactly how ICE officials are referring to the VA ICU nurse Alex Pretti?
We’ve learned from 2023 forward that if we all don’t act together to shut down the money, arms, and political economy that was going to support Israel, Israel can do whatever it wants.
We have a historic opportunity. Minneapolis is calling on all of us to skip work, school, and shopping to bring the economy to a halt. This is an invitation from the brave resisters of the occupation of Minneapolis to not only be in solidarity with them, but to change the course of U.S. history — to fight back against blatant fascism.
If we all join the shutdown on Friday, it probably won’t bring immediate justice for Alex Pretti. But what it will do is demonstrate that we are all capable of acting in unison. If we prove that we can, so many opportunities for change will open in front of us, and it will scare the shit out of the ruling class.
Here’s what you can do:
- Pledge to join the shutdown.
- Print out flyers and hand them out to raise consciousness about the strike.
- Join our calling party against ICE on Friday, instead of going to work.
- Engage with a local peace economy or mutual aid network to support each other during the shutdown.
I sincerely hope you all join in on the national shutdown on Friday. ICE is seeing what it can get away with: all the fear, repression, and murder it can manufacture without consequence. Shutdowns and strikes are the Trump Admin and ruling class’ achilles heel, because whether they like it or not, they still rely on us, everyday people, to keep the economy moving. Without the workers and consumers that they exploit to line their own pockets — they have nothing left. It’s exactly why they have ICE trying to intimidate and control us. It’s exactly why we have to use the tactics available to us to resist it. We have the privilege of numbers, and it’s about time we act like it.
Join the shutdown on January 30th.
In peace and solidarity,
Danaka & the entire CODEPINK team
